Another Side of Me
by FakeMirage
Summary: She nervously glanced around, hoping to find salvation from this monster. He grabbed her chin and forced her eyes to meet his " You are merely my puppet. Your choices are mine alone. Did you think you could win this game? You were poorly mistaken."
1. Prologue

Another Side of Me – Prologue

The man walked slowly to the desk in the center of the room and sat down at the only chair. The small room was dark and the only light was from the swinging light fixture hanging from the ceiling. Cracks went down the walls and the air gave off a musty smell due to the constant high humidity that was prone for that area.

He looked at the small television that fixed on the table. The hazy, black and white picture flickered constantly, but the objective was still clear. It showed a small Victorian house. The house itself, with it's painted front porch and lovely flower boxes, looked like the perfect house for a loving family to live in.

The man glared at the television as the current surveillance was wasted due to the lack of activity. _'I have waited ten years. Ten long years for this day. Now that I am free, I will get my revenge.'_

In boredom, he sat back on the hind legs of the chair and absentmindedly began unloading and loading the gun that was rested in his palms. He continued this for a couple of minutes until suddenly, his attention was drawn back to the surveillance screen. There, a car had pulled into the driveway and two people slowly began walking back into the house. The first person was an older female, probably in her mid 40's. Her long, sleek hair was neatly braided and hung down her back. The man's demonic eyes narrowed as he focused on the second person coming up the walkway. It was a young girl around 16 or 17. Her stride was confident as she smiled and laughed at something the older women had said. The girl was carrying a large duffle on one shoulder and a suitcase was trailing behind her.

An evil smirk was found on the man's face as he watched the two women walk into the house, unsuspecting that they were being watched the whole time. '_Subject found.'_

He picked up the manilla folder that was lying on the desk and pulled out two large photos and placed them side by side. The first picture was of a young man with ebony hair and dark eyes. His normally impassive face was marred by slightest hint of smirk adorning his lips. The second picture was of the young girl that recently on the surveillance screen. Her green eyes were sparkling as she laughed just as the picture was taken. Her soft, pink hair hung right above her shoulders and a silver crescent moon necklace adorned her neck.

The man picked up the second picture and stared thoughtfully at the girl, "Soon Sakura. Very soon we will be reunited and you and your little friend will get what you deserve."

The man chuckled as he left the room, the lamp swinging ominously behind him.

_**FakeMirage**_

_Well this is my second story so far. I hope the epilogue piqued your interest. Thanks, please review!_

_-FakeMirage_


	2. Chapter 1

Another Side of Me – Chapter Two

An ivory colored hand readjusted the heavy backpack for the tenth time in the last five minutes. It was a nervous habit for the young woman, and since she has changed schools many times, it was a reoccurring action. A sigh escaped her pouty lips as she took in the huge brick building in front of her. Although she had changed schools many times, she never got used the butterfly feeling in her stomach _'Especially since this is my first year at college.'_

Konoha Leaf University, or just The Leaf, was a prestigious, private school in the Konoha region. It was a small school with only around 4,000 students, but it was renown for its Law, Business and Nursing school. Ever since Sakura was little, she wanted to become a doctor. As she grew older, that dream faded as she realized the expenses that would rack up for that dream. Luckily for her, her dream is now a reality. Her loving grandmother Tsunade forced her to fill out the application to the university although Sakura cried saying it was a waste of time since she couldn't afford it anyways. She was pleasantly surprised when not only was she accepted into the nursing program, but when Tsunade helped her pay for it as well. The only catch was that she had to live with Tsunade during college instead of living in a dorm. This method was convenient since Tsunade lived down the block, but it was also cheaper although that wasn't the only reason for living there.

The campus of The Leaf wasn't gargantuan and it was easy for Sakura to find the building and the room for her first class. When she entered the class, many students were already there, chatting with old and new friends. She expertly weaved her way through the desks and sat down near the back. Looking around she noticed that the classroom itself wasn't that big and the walls were covered with many windows to let in natural light. There was a dry erase board at the front of the room along with a projector screen and a projector. There was even a podium for the teacher to stand behind.

A slight breeze came through the opened window in the back and Sakura sighed and closed her eyes in contentment.

"Hey what's your name?"

Green eyes popped open in shock to see a very pretty blonde haired girl sitting in the seat next to her.

A smile lifted on Sakura's face "Sakura."

Her blue eyes sparkled as she smiled back "I'm Ino."

"Nice to meet you."

"Same to you babe. Say, do you know anyone attending Konoha?"

Sakura shook her head as Ino gasped "I have to introduce you to my friends at lunch!"

She smiled softly in agreement as the teacher stood up and began class. Sakura was never good at making friends, mainly because she didn't have time to do so. She was constantly changing schools and by the time she made friends, it was time to move again. Eventually, she just gave up. Now in college, she was promised that she wouldn't have to move and could stay at this university all four years of undergrad. She glanced at Ino and smiled _'Now is the time to make some life long friends. I'm ready for the challenge.'_

_**FakeMirage**_

Classes so far were easy and quick, but that was expected for the first day. Soon it was lunch and Sakura was currently being dragged to the cafeteria by Ino, who she had her first two classes with. "I can't wait for you to meet Hinata and TenTen! You are going to love them!"

After swiping their student at the front entrance of the cafeteria, they each went their separate ways to get their food. The cafeteria wasn't large, but it had many different food options. Sakura chose a ham and swiss pannini while Ino came back with a salad and grilled chicken. Ino scanned the room for her other friends "They said they were already here..."

"Oh!" she suddenly squealed causing Sakura to wince " There they are!"

The dragging proceeded to lead Sakura to a large round table in the back of the cafeteria where it was less crowded. Seated there was a very energetic girl with chocolate locks twisted into two buns. A quiet, shy girl with dark blue hair, a pink blush sprinkled on her cheeks, was seated next to her.

"Ino what took you so long. Your such a slow poke!" the coffee haired girl teased.

The other girl poked her fingers together in a nervous matter and kept her eyes downcast to the tiled floor as she stammered "H-e-llo In-o-chan. Wh-o is y-our ne-w fr-iend?"

All three pairs of eyes turned to Sakura, while Ino smiled at her "Everyone this is Sakura. Sakura this is TenTen and Hinata."

Sakura smiled in greeting as she pulled a seat next to Ino.

"So Sakura," started TenTen " what are you studying here at the great Leaf University?"

After chewing a bite of food she quickly replied "Nursing. What about you?"

TenTen waved her hand around "Psh. I'm Undeclared. I like to go with the flow. One day, I want to be a teacher, the next a movie star! Who knows what I'll end up in." She smiled mischievously as she took a sip from her carton of milk.

Sakura turned her eyes to Hinata, but Ino beat her to it " Both Hinata and I are Business and Advertising majors. Hinata here is going to take over Hyuga Inc while I will inherit my family's flower shop business."

A delicate pink eyebrow lifted in surprise "Hyuga Inc? As in the computer software manufacturing company?"

Embarrassed by the attention, Hinata only nodded.

Sakura was going to question her further, but was stopped by a huge **Bang **that echoed through the cafeteria as a young man tossed his backpack down on a table. He was shouting and pointing at another young man seated at the same table while the three guys that accompanied the two shook their heads. The one that threw his backpack had blonde hair and strikingly blue eyes while the other that was receiving this abuse was the opposite with ebony hair and eyes to match. His taunting smirk also contradicted with the blonde's snarl. All the rest of the guys had muted brown hair, but they had a striking feature that made them unique. One of the guys had his hair styled in a high ponytail, almost making his head look like a pineapple. The other boy had striking, pearl like eyes, similar to the ones that Hinata also had. Lastly was a boy with crazy, shaggy hair and red triangle tattoos on his face. Two things that they all had in common was that they were all gorgeous and they all had an air of confidence in them. It was one that made your eyes drift in their direction when they entered the room, but also, it caused warning bells to ring, telling you to stay away.

"Who are they?" Sakura whispered even though they were across the room.

"They," Ino pointed to the group "are a bunch of delinquents. We all went to the same high school and they were always getting in trouble. They call themselves the Ninja Star. Since there is five of them, they each represent a point of the star in there so called gang. Uchiha Sasuke," she pointed at the smirking youth, " is the leader of the gang and thus the top point of the star. Uzumaki Naruto, the loudmouth blonde, is second in command, and the second point of the star. Although the only reason he is in that position is because he has been friends with Sasuke since middle school."

"The third point of the star" continued TenTen " is Nara Shikamaru, who is the brains of the group. He may seem lazy, but he is great at strategy. Next is the jerk Hyuga Neji, who is also Hinata's cousin. Then the last point of the star is Inuzuka Kiba."

Ino rolled her eyes " Kiba is another loudmouth like Naruto. I swear, they are always fighting. It's a wonder they're friends."

Sakura nodded, taking this all in.

Hinata turned her pearly eyes towards her and stopped poking her fingers together " I-t is be-st if y-ou l-eave them a-lone."

TenTen nodded in agreement " They can be quite dangerous to their enemies. They also hold a deep grudge to those who hurt a member in their gang and although you may think you have gotten away with it, it will come back to bite you in the butt."

Ino winked at her "Although they are all wonderful eye candy, stay away and admire from afar" She threw her arm around Sakura "Don't worry though. Just stay away from them, and hang with us and you'll be fine."

Sakura eyed the scowling Uchiha and the laughing Uzumaki _'Don't worry. I won't have any trouble staying away from them.'_

_**FakeMirage**_

Sakura leaned tiredly against her door. Today had been a long day, and although exciting, Sakura was glad that it was over. She was finally back "home" in her own room, while Tsunade cooked dinner downstairs in the kitchen. After an exciting lunch, Sakura only had one other class. Although Ino wasn't in that one, both TenTen and Hinata was. She also learned that all three of them were in one of her classes tomorrow. As Sakura entered her room, she tossed her full backpack on her bed and grabbed her computer and waited for it to turn on. Because today was only the first day of college, the professors had been gracious and had not given them any homework. This gave her plenty of free time for the rest of the night.

The computer finally on, Sakura logged into her email account and added Ino, TenTen, and Hinata to her buddies on IM. After that, she quickly checked her email. She had a few spam, which she quickly deleted, and two messages that quickly caught her eye. The first one was from **UI** and it was a short message, but one that warmed her heart none the less:

_Sakura,_

_I hope your first day of college went well. I know that you will do exceptionally well with that brain of yours. I hope you make many friends, but don't forget us( the gang ) when you have new people to hang out with. If you ever need anything, just send me an email or text and I will be there immediately, especially if it is some guy is harassing you. _

_Love you,_

_UI_

A smile filled her face as she read the email over and over. Although they had been friends for as long as she can remember, it was unusual for him to show affection. It was normally expressed through possessiveness and over protectiveness. Although she had moved around a lot, he had always been a constant that she could rely on. He was always there for her and had become on of her best friends. Even when he had joined his gang, instead of this distancing them, it only caused her to gain "brothers".

Deciding to email him back later, she clicked on the other unread message. It was a short message, but one that confused her.

_I'm glad to see you arrived in Konoha safely._

The message itself was harmless, but she didn't know who the sender, **DarkShadow**, was. _'I guess it could be one of the gang, and they just changed their name.' _

Moving the cursor of the Reply button she typed in a reply:

_Who are you?_

_**FakeMirage**_

_Who are you?_

The short message contrasted with the white, brightly lit screen, which was the only light in the room. A dark silhouette sat before the screen, his right had thrumming against the wooden face of the desk. An amused smirk graced his features as he read the message over and over.

"Who am I? Very good question my dear. Soon, darling Sakura, you will find out, but first, let the game of cat and mouse begin."

_**FakeMirage**_

_This concludes the first official chapter of Another Side of Me. Hopefully it reached your expectations and you review. I want to thank my reviewer: __**Chaos2Rapture. **__Your review was very helpful and appreciated. As always, I will try to update in the next week, but it will probably be every two weeks since school has once again started. Thanks again for reading my story and I hope you enjoyed it!_

_-FakeMirage_


	3. Chapter 2

Another Side of Me – Chapter 3

Sakura set her green and grey backpack on the ground and sat down on wooden bench. It was a warm day and the sun was giving off a golden glow. It was quiet, except for the chatting of people walking to class and the soft melodiousness of the fountain that Sakura was seated in front of. Fishing around in her backpack, she produced a thick hard back book and quickly opened it. It was the second day of classes, and since her first class had both TenTen and Hinata in it, they each promised to meet in front of the fountain at 9 o'clock sharp. Of course, Sakura was a couple of minutes early and she proceed to spend that time reading her book. The book was a romance thriller, and although she had only gotten it two days ago, she was almost finished with it. Right now she was at the "clencher" part of the story and as she was reading, the sounds of the outside world became nothing. All she could see and hear was the words on the page as it became her reality.

_The girl ran, gasping for air as did. Her heart racing as she passed through the deserted town. The luminous night lights were the only sense of life in the town this late at night . Kathy didn't notice any of these things. Her only thoughts were "Run, Run Run. I have have to get away. Faster. Faster. Faster." Kathy ran past places that used to be important to her: her old high school, the playground she used to play at, the mall where all of her friends met every Friday. Nothing mattered anymore. The only thing that mattered was to escape. It began simple and innocent, but now this game of his had spiraled out of control. Now, he knew everything about her. Where she lived. Where she was at all times. He knew her decisions before she even made them and he made sure not to let her forget it. He had taken away everything she cared about and tore it up right in front of her face. Her entire life was right in the palm of his hands and she could do nothing about it except hope to run away._

_She skidded to a stop, her long, red hair, cascading around her. Her blue eyes dilated in fear and her heart raced at the sight of the man standing calmly in front of her. _

_His golden eyes gleamed evilly in the dim lighting as he simply stared at her frightened form. He chuckled as she took a hesitant step back. "Where are you going Kathy? You have nowhere to run."_

_She glanced around nervously, hoping, praying, that she would find her salvation from this evil. He took confident steps forward until he was close enough to grab her chin, forcing her to look at him in the eyes "You are merely my puppet. Your choices are mine alone. Did you think you could win this game? You were poorly mistaken."_

_Her eyes widened as she saw what could only be her doom..._

"Hey!" A shout broke her concentration as water splashed from the fountain on her feet. Jumping to her feet in fright, she saw a blonde and orange blob rising from the fountain as the boy with the red triangles on his face laughed on the sidelines.

Furious, Naruto jumped out of the fountain and punched Kiba on the arm "Dude! What was that for? Why in the world did you push me into the fountain? Now I'm soaked!"

Kiba hunched over, laughing so hard he could barely breath " Haha sorry dude, but you weren't expecting a thing! It was so freaking hilarious!"

Sakura continued to watch the duo as they bickered loudly. Oblivions to everyone else, she didn't notice TenTen and Hinata walk up until she heard TenTen tsk "What did we tell you about them always arguing? Looks like Naruto fell for another one of Kiba's pranks."

Sakura raised an eyebrow "Another one?"

Hinata nodded "Naruto-kun and Kiba-kun are always pranking each other..."

TenTen nodded in confirmation and grabbed the two girls by the arm "Come on girls. If we don't head to class soon, we will be late. That's never a good first impression to a teacher." With that said, TenTen began to drag them towards their first class.

Sakura shook her head, _'Is it just me or do these girls like to drag me around a lot?'_

_**FakeMirage**_

Sakura glanced at her watch for the tenth time since she sat down. _'What kind of teacher is 30 minutes late to their own class?'_ She glanced over at Hinata and TenTen who were seated in the desk next to hers. Hinata was twiddling her thumbs and TenTen was sitting calmly. The rest of the class was chatting amiably, and Sakura wasn't really sure what to do with her extra time. Leaning over, she tapped TenTen on the shoulder "Isn't there a policy stating that if a teacher is 15 minutes late, the students can leave?"

TenTen nodded "On normal occasions, yes, but Hatake Kakashi is teaching this class."

"Um...So?"

"So, he is always late. If they had that policy, he would never have a class."

Sakura leaned back in her seat and sighed. She hated people that were late, especially teachers. Sakura stretched her arm down to reach for her book again when the door slammed open and in walked Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto. Naruto had a huge grin on his face as he laughed at the stoic Uchiha. The blonde boy's clothes were still soaked, although the dripping had stopped, and they clung to him like a second skin. Many of the girls failed at hiding their blush - Hinata almost passed out - as his well toned body bulged through the clingy fabric. Seeing most of the girls reactions, Naruto's grin grew especially when he caught her stare. Quickly glancing away, she started glancing at the class workbook. His footsteps kept on getting closer and closer, and pray as she might, he was coming her way.

_'Please let them just sit behind me. Please, Oh please.'_

Today just wasn't her lucky day.

Naruto plopped down on the seat next to her as Sasuke took the seat behind him. Seeing that she was concentrating on her book and not him, Naruto leaned his face a couple inches from hers. His azure eyes sparkled with mischief as he saw her eyes widen in surprise. The tables quickly turned though, when she pushed him away from her so hard that he ended up in the floor. The room hushed in tense silence. No one has ever gone against a member of Ninja Star, let alone a small girl with pink hair. Everyone held their breathes in anticipation of the upcoming events. The Ninja Star were not the nicest of people, and one could only imagine what one of them would do to this disrespectful act.

Naruto glanced from the floor around him to see everyone's expectant faces. His eyes landed on Sakura's dreading ones and his mouth curved upwards into a smile. Soon his stomach was rumbling in laughter as he stood up and reclaimed his seat.

Still laughing, he turned to the pink haired girl. "I didn't know how strong you were! Man, Sasuke did you see that? She just pushed me out of the way like I was nothing!"

A grunt was heard from the boy mentioned "That's because your nothing."

"What did you say! I am so something! I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Believe it!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes as he put his headphones in his ears and turned up the volume of his ipod, drowning out the sounds of the yelling boy.

Naruto huffed, a childish pout forming on his lips. He turned to the surprised girl next to him and grabbed her hand and shook it in introduction " My name's Uzumaki Naruto! The bastard behind me is Uchiha Sasuke. Ignore his frigid attitude. He's an ass anyways." The energetic boy continued to shake her hand through out his entire monologue and the other boy mentioned glared at him, seemingly knowing that they were talking about him even though his headphones were still in their place.

"So...what's your name?"

The girl, finally able to get her hand back, opened her mouth to reply, but wasn't given much of a chance since the door was slammed open once again, this time by the teacher. The teacher was definitely unorthodox for sure. His grey hair, unlike the other teachers where every strand had a place, was chaotic and was in an anti-gravity style. His right eye sparkled in contrast to the other which was covered by an eye patch and his mouth was covered by the high neck of his sweater.

He stood in front of the class in a casual stance and started clapping his hands slowly to gather everyone's attention. Only after everyone quieted down, did he begin to write _Hatake Kakashi _neatly on the board.

" My name is Hatake Kakashi and I am your Communications teacher." His lone eye scanned the room and landed in the back " Sasuke I would advise that you take your headphones off and join the rest of the class." Sakura heard the boy sigh as he complied. Kakashi smiled and continued on in his introduction. " Communications is a required class for all majors here at Konoha Leaf University and let me warn you, it will be one of the most time consuming classes you will have this first semester."

Groans resinated throughout the classroom and Kakashi once again smiled " This doesn't mean that this will not be a fun class. For your first assignment, I will need to put you in groups of three." Picking up the class roster, he quickly named off students that were going to be working together. All of the names were unfamiliar to her, except for TenTen's and Hinata's who were going to be working with some guy named Choji.

Finally her name was called with the names of her two partners. She was expecting her name to be listed with two other unfamiliar names, but instead, she knew them and she dreaded working with them. Sighing, Sakura continued to hit her head on her desk hoping that this would make her life a little bit easier.

**FakeMirage**

"Wait a minute! Your working with who again?" Ino exclaimed loudly as they walked towards the computer lab.

TenTen shook her head " I don't know what Kakashi was thinking when he assigned you with those two."

Sakura turned towards her hopefully " Do you think Kakashi-sensei would let us switch? Maybe I could switch with Choji and work with you guys?"

TenTen shook her head as Ino once again spoke in an exuberant manner " I just don't understand why Kakashi-sensei would put you with Sasuke and Naruto. I mean, he knows they're trouble makers and you are way too sweet to have to put up with them. What's the assignment anyways?"

Hinata poked her fingers together " We are supposed to do activities with our partners and once we get done with the list, write a fictional story with the main character based off of our partners."

Ino huffed as she opened the door to the computer lab and picked a computer closest to the back of the room. " What kind of assignment is that anyways? It's not like your in drama or something like that."

Sakura shrugged "It's apparently supposed to get you able to open up to others and show your "true self" and you also are able to see how other perceive you by reading your partners stories." Glancing at her new friends, she bit her lip "Didn't you guys tell me to stay away from these guys? How dangerous are they?"

"They aren't too bad of guys as long as you stay on their good side. Besides, after what happened today in class it is safe to say that Naruto already likes you so you have nothing to worry about." teased TenTen.

Pink spread across the girl's face as she ignored the laughter of her friends and turned on her computer. She quickly logged into her email. She quickly scanned through all of her unread messages and deleted all of her spam. After cleaning out her inbox, she noticed that she had a reply to the email she had replied to from yesterday.

**DarkShadow:**

_Who I am really doesn't matter._

Perplexed at the short answer, Sakura quickly drew up a reply.

**JadedCherry:**

_Of course it does. Do I know you?_

Not expecting a reply, Sakura was surprised to hear the ding of a new message a short minute later.

**DarkShadow:**

_If I told you the answer to that question, it might ruin all the fun. Let's see if you can discover my identity by playing a little game. Shall we play 20 questions?_

The girl thrummed her fingers on the desk in front of her. Should she play this game? It was such a simple game, but was it smart to play with a stranger? _'I promised myself when I started college I would be more daring and start taking more risks. This won't hurt anyone. Besides, it sounds like I know him from somewhere...'_ Having made up her mind, Sakura quickly typed out her response.

**FakeMirage**

**JadedCherry:**

_Sure. You ask first. _

The man chuckled at the short and quick response. The foolish girl did exactly what he wanted. She had fallen unknowingly right into the palm of his hand. Let the games begin.

**FakeMirage**

_I'm really, really sorry that it took so long to write this chapter! I'm sorry if I disappointed you and I will try to do better next. My college classes just took so much more time than I thought they would this semester. Anyways, I want to say thank you for my reviewers: __**Chaos2Rapture, **__**xanimecookie101x**__, and __**raven rose 101**__. You guys rock!_


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